A fat goose lay at one end of the table and at the other end, on a bed
of creased paper strewn with sprigs of parsley, lay a great ham, stripped of its outer
skin and peppered over with crust crumbs, a neat paper frill round its shin and beside
this was a round of spiced beef. Between these rival ends ran parallel lines of
side-dishes: two little minsters of jelly, red and yellow; a shallow dish full of blocks
of blancmange and red jam, a large green leaf-shaped dish with a stalk-shaped handle, on
which lay bunches of purple raisins and peeled almonds, a companion dish on which lay a
solid rectangle of Smyrna figs, a dish of custard topped with grated nutmeg, a small bowl
full of chocolates and sweets wrapped in gold and silver papers, and a glass vase in which
stood some tall celery stalks. In the centre of the table there stood, as sentries to a
fruit-stand which upheld a pyramid of oranges and American apples, two squat old-fashioned
decanters of cut glass, one containing port and the other dark sherry. On the closed
square piano a pudding in a huge yellow dish lay in waiting and behind it were three
squads of bottles of stout and ale and minerals, drawn up according to the colours of
their uniform, the first two black, with brown and red labels, the third and smallest
squad white, with transverse green sashes.
"The Dead", Dubliners
